It seems Microsoft hasn’t forgotten about the little guys. At this morning’s E3 press conference, Microsoft debuted D4, the latest project from enigmatic game director Hidetaka Suehiro, better known by his alias Swery65. This game will be arriving on the Xbox One, and looks to continue the proud, strange tradition of the brilliant Deadly Premonition. It will also take an episodic format. D4’s trailer only offered a quick look at the game, but what we saw had us intrigued.
We got a look at what we assume is the protagonist, as well as the game’s sleek cel-shaded art style. Our leading man looked a bit like Catherine’s hero Vincent, staring dreamily into the camera. Intercut into this shot were glimpses of the story, showing a mysterious girl reaching out to us. The setting looks to be a mix of real-world and psychedelic landscapes. Judging from a brief shot of a girl with a humorously large bow tie in her hair, it seems Swery’s minimalist-but-memorable character designs are back in style.
D4 could very well be the next entry in the bizarre, ridiculously obscure D series of survival horror, which has entries on the PS1 and Dreamcast. What’s odd is that there hasn’t been a D3; perhaps Swery65 decided to square the number two instead of add to it? In any case, we look forward to hearing more about this curious Xbox One title.